John Gossage: The Nicknames of Citizens

The third volume in John Gossage’s ongoing exploration of America and its people

This clothbound volume continues Washington, DC–based photographer John Gossage’s (born 1946) astute, critical and witty look at his native America, following Should Nature Change (2019) and the upcoming Jack Wilson’s Waltz. Whether in California, Indiana or New York, whether his subjects are young artists, nondescript suburbia or a dirt road, Gossage’s approach is the same.

“Nicknames,” he writes, “are mostly a second naming of a person after their true character is known. When a child is born the parents choose a name, if it fits all the way though life it is a lucky guess. Picture-making (mine at least) seems to me like trying to find the correct nickname for something I’ve found existing in the world and photographed. This book and these pictures make that attempt with the country of my birth and its citizens.”